Why do people insist on distracting themselves while driving? I don't understand it. When I am driving, I do not do any of the following:

Talk/text on phone

Eat food or drink beverage

Listen to music

Fiddle with radio/GPS/other car device

Zone out

Turn around and yell at kids

Look at face in rearview mirror

Driving is a full-concentration activity, yet everyone tries to multitask as much as possible while doing it. This morning someone in front of me went right through a red light. She looked like she was about 20, blasting music with her windows down, talking on her phone, and messing with some stupid crap hanging from her mirror. Why do people put so much crap in or on their cars? In/on my car, I do not have any of the following:

Trash all over the floor and seats

Miscellaneous crap packed into trunk

Stupid decorations on steering wheel/mirror

Obnoxious bumper stickers

Rims/tinted windows/other expensive but useless parts

In my trunk, I keep an umbrella and an ice scraper. That's it. People have asked me how I keep my car clean. My answer is to never put things in it to start with. I hate cars, driving, and driving cars; consequently, I view driving as simply a way to get from one place to another - not a recreational event. In fact, I hate the whole attitude associated with cars. Everyone thinks a car is a portable house, or an expensive toy, or both. Why do people want fast cars? The fastest speed limit in Ohio, to the best of my knowledge, is 65 MPH. My cheap but efficient car can reach that speed. In fact, why are commercially produced cars even capable of going over 75 MPH? It just opens the door for people to be stupid.

All of that junk and I still don't think I'm a good driver. So what does that make everyone else?

Um... some points are reasonable, others seem a bit over the top. I can be completely aware of my surroundings and have full control of my car and reflexes and still be listening to music. I can also walk and chew gum. In fact, our entire autonomic nervous system's activities are conducted without us even being aware of them. What you should be more concerned with are bad drivers. These are the drivers who do not know how to adjust their mirrors so as to quickly see all the way around them without completely turning their head and potentially missing sudden activities in front of them. The drivers who attempt to merge onto the highway going 40 causing other drivers to have to slam on their brakes or swerve to avoid them. And this one is more controversial, but I truly feel like it is safer to go with the flow of traffic even when traffic is moving significantly greater than the legally posted speed limit. I could probably go on but I'll stop there. Bad drivers account for at least 70% of my stress, the rest is 25% females and 15% math, though the females and bad drivers overlap quite a bit (gasp!).